


A Varri-Cycle Built for Two

by StorytimeWithSteph



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Slice of Life, a romantic comedy of sorts, local genius is too dumb to realize he is in love with his assistant, my betas are doing the firelord’s work, set roughly a few months before book one, wacky hijinks after which pain ensues, whoops who dropped all this pining in chapter 4, zhu li definitely does the thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27034414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StorytimeWithSteph/pseuds/StorytimeWithSteph
Summary: “So here’s the plan: we go to the big shindig, I show up with Uki, I rub elbows with all the Northern Water Tribe bigwigs, I make a good impression.Youput on that server’s uniform I got you, hand out as many Varri-cake samples as you possibly can, andthen,”Varrick stopped and whirled around on his heel, landing inches from Zhu Li’s face, “As soon as the party’s over,youare gonna figure out a way to get me outta there. What do Ialwayssay about dealing with crazy women, Zhu Li?”Zhu Li frowned and adjusted her glasses. “Lie big and leave fast, sir,” she said.Varrick smiled.“Exactly.”It was going to be a long night.——Being one of the richest men in the world means there’s never a dull moment—there are always deals waiting to be made, innovations waiting to be discovered, and beautiful women waiting to be wooed. But in between the romantic interludes, there are bound to be run-ins with Equalists, triads, and a crazy waterbending ex-girlfriend.Usually, the only thing standing between Varrick and an untimely doom is a five-and-a-half foot tall woman with glasses.
Relationships: Varrick/Zhu Li Moon
Comments: 20
Kudos: 46





	1. When Money Talks, I Listen

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, thank you to givebacknlivehappy and jaganlekhani from the Zhurrick Discord Server for being my betas! Please do go check out their recent work 'Night Fever' when you get a chance, it's groovy. :) Come join the server if you're so inclined; givebacknlivehappy has linked it on Tumblr.
> 
> Second, this was written in an attempt to explain why Varrick is hinted to have been a ladies' man in his storied past, and yet we never seem to see him dating anyone when we meet him in Book 2. Hope you enjoy!

Tao Zi’s first date with a millionaire mogul was not going very well, to say the least. It had all seemed respectable enough at first, albeit a bit extravagant. Her date had picked her up at her studio downtown at six o’clock sharp, sporting his finest furs. His assistant—who was also there for some reason—had unceremoniously shoved a bouquet of roses and some kind of large fruit basket into Tao Zi’s arms, then promptly snatched them away again when her employer barked “ _Carry the lady’s things, Zhu Li_!” 

After a quick limousine ride, they stopped off to eat at Kwong’s Cuisine. Then, following a satisfying five-course meal, they headed to the Republic City Opera House. Tao Zi wondered if perhaps it wasn’t going as well as she’d hoped when her date fell asleep halfway through the overture. 

But disaster _really_ struck just as the curtain fell on the final act of _The Dragon of Mount Makapu._ The last thing she could remember before blacking out in a searing flash of pain was the sound of footsteps and electricity behind her on the balcony. An hour or so later, Tao Zi awoke propped up uncomfortably against the floor. She, her date, and his assistant were tied tightly around the foot of a wooden stool in some dark, dusty warehouse. Her date—none other than Iknik Blackstone Varrick, the venerated head of Varrick Global Industries—had been chattering away anxiously to his assistant since he’d woken up. 

“Well _this_ is just great. First I have to listen to some guy sing about his _feelings_ for three hours, and _now_ we’re gonna die tied to a chair,” he said, flailing against the rope for emphasis. “I _told_ you we should’ve gone skydiving instead, Zhu Li.”

At the thought of dying tied to a chair, Tao Zi burst into tears again. Zhu Li, on the other hand, seemed largely unperturbed.

“Sir, please stop struggling. You’re making it difficult to breathe,” the assistant said in a quiet, even tone.

Tao Zi, who was bruised, tear-soaked, and still extremely woozy, found it downright disturbing how calm Varrick’s assistant had been throughout the ordeal. But even more chilling than Zhu Li’s seeming indifference was the sound of slow, steady footfalls growing louder and closer as they wound their way through the maze of cobwebs and towering crates.

Though she’d never been much of a fighter, Tao Zi instinctively tried to do something to move the ground beneath them. But nothing happened—based on her aching pressure points, she had a sinking feeling that her chi had been blocked. Her stomach lurched violently when several pairs of boots stopped a mere foot in front of her. 

“Well, well—this is truly an honor,” said a thin, icy voice at the forefront of the group. A face swathed in a cloak and bandanna descended, and her breath hitched in her throat as a pair of eyes bore into her. Though she’d never encountered any of these men before, Tao Zi quickly deduced that they were Equalists.

“Miss Tao Zi Tseng, the world-famous sculptor, I presume?”

Tao Zi did not reply, but the masked individual did not seem to need much confirmation. He continued.

“I’ve read all about you, of course. A pioneer in the field who utilizes a unique combination of ancient and modern earthbending techniques to create formidable works of art. While your sculptures encompass a wide range of subjects, you are most known for your works depicting Avatar Kyoshi standing on the field of battle—isn’t that right?” 

The cloaked man didn’t even pause to hear a reply this time. “Can you _truly_ have gained fame from producing such garbage? It’s tasteless, if you ask me. Your art represents a world ruled by violence; by terror. You glorify oppression; _tyranny_ —”

Tao Zi finally found her voice, meek and shaky though it was. “Th...that’s not true,” she said, holding back her tears as well as she could. “That’s...not what my sculptures are about at _all—_ ”

“Ha!” the Equalist thug laughed mirthlessly. “ _That_ is no longer up for debate, I’m afraid. Amon is the only one whose opinion on the subject truly matters, after all. And _he’s_ already decided to make an example of you,” he said. His mouth was still hidden behind his mask, but his eyes betrayed a wicked grin.

Before Tao Zi had time to process the implications of those words, Varrick decided to weigh in on the matter.

“Whoa, _whoa,_ hold your ostrich horses, fellas. I get the whole _not liking art_ thing, but why drag _me_ into this? I’m not even a bender, y’know? Seems kind of pointless to have me here.”

“ _Silence!_ Don’t misunderstand,” said the Equalist. “The fact that you brought the earthbender along with you tonight was a happy coincidence. But _you_ , Mr. Varrick, were our primary target.”

“ _Me_?” Varrick asked, sounding suspiciously incredulous. “What’d you want _me_ for?” He let out a muffled ‘ _oof’_ as the Equalist backhanded him across the jaw.

“Don’t play the fool! You pledged your loyalty to the Anti-Bending Revolution, promised us new weapons, new ideas— _then_ you sold your planes and machinery to the United Forces to be used against us?! You’re even worse than _she_ is—a traitor and a coward,” the Equalist said.

Varrick slouched down against the chair, his forehead creased in a petulant frown. His eyes darted about the room as he launched into an explanation. “Look, it’s nothing personal! When money talks, I listen, and those United Forces folks have a _lot_ of money. So I thought, well, what the heck, I’ll do a lot of listening. And naturally, _that_ led to a lot of business! But hey, don’t get me wrong—I’m an open-minded guy,” he said. The left side of his mustache twitched up slightly, as did the corner of his mouth. “I _could_ be persuaded to change my mind about this Revolution stuff for the right price, if you boys know what I mean.”

“Not a chance. This ends _now_. There’s no guarantee you won’t continue to play both sides to your own advantage—you’re too dangerous to be left alive.”

“Sure, sure, I see your point,” the businessman said, nodding along congenially. “But I think there’s one more detail we oughta discuss first,” Varrick continued, growing sweatier by the second as one of the Equalists charged up his weapon to strike him. If he was bluffing, it probably wasn’t going to do much good in the face of 20,000 volts of electricity.

“And what would _that_ be?” the cloaked figure asked. “Choose your words wisely. My patience is wearing thin.”

The other side of Varrick’s mustache twitched up in a wry smile. “Well, y’see, my assistant’s got teeth like razor blades, and while _you_ were flapping your gums, _she_ chewed us outta here.”

“ _What_?!” the Equalist roared. It was true—somehow the quiet, unassuming woman had indeed chewed her way through the rope, escaped his notice and slipped out of sight. Their bonds loosened, Varrick and Tao Zi wriggled their way out and made a break for it, only to be denied escape by Equalists surrounding them on all sides.

“ _Zhu Li!_ You’d better have a plan,” Varrick screamed at his assistant, who had somehow managed to climb on top of one of the large storage crates in the commotion. She was holding one of her high heeled shoes in her hand.

“Working on it, sir,” Zhu Li said, turning over her shoe to look at the spiked heel. Then she nodded, grabbed hold of the hook dangling from the end of a nearby crane, and descended on the mob from above. She honed in on one of the members who was hanging back a bit, bringing the shoe repeatedly down upon his head.

“ _Mercy! Have mercy!”_ the thug cried.

It all happened so fast. Shadows danced on the wall as the fight broke out. Tao Zi watched in frightened awe as Zhu Li wielded the shoe in one hand and an electric glove she’d somehow wrestled off the thug in the other. Dipping and dodging her way through the small group of Equalists, she managed to thin out their numbers until there was a clear path to the door.

“ _Run_ ,” Zhu Li commanded, and her companions eagerly obeyed. She joined her boss and his date in fleeing shortly thereafter. Then she phoned the police.

“Remind me to give her a raise,” Varrick said to Tao Zi as they ran off into the night.

***

Tao Zi couldn’t muster up the courage to speak again until after she’d seen the last member of the group of Equalists shoved into a police car bound for the precinct. 

“That was terrible,” she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. She sank down into the plush backseat of the limo, which had come to fetch them.

“Ha! That was _nothing_ ,” Varrick snorted. He reached over, unwrapped a peach from Tao Zi’s fruit basket, tossed it from one hand to the other, took a bite out of it, and continued. “Lemme tell you about the time we ran afoul of the Agni Kais,” he said, draping his free arm around the frightened sculptor. He made a sweeping gesture with the fruit in his hand, and he had a wild gleam in his eyes that reminded Tao Zi of a crazed eeligator she’d used as a model once.

Nevertheless, she listened very politely for an hour and twenty-two minutes as Varrick recounted a tale of derring-do that started with a trip to the Little Ba Sing Se Fashion Mall to buy a pair of shoes and ended with Zhu Li taking out three firebenders with two thumb tacks and a piece of electrical tape, among other things.

Zhu Li sat in the seat across from them, attentive but silent. As the tale grew progressively more improbable, Tao Zi snuck a few fleeting glances at her to see if her expression had changed—though she struggled to look Zhu Li in the eye after what she’d seen her do to those Equalists.

The limo pulled up to Varrick’s hotel just as he finished his story.

“...so anyway, if Zhu Li hadn’t done that thing with the paperclip and the bucket of sand, you would _not_ be looking at _this_ handsome mug tonight,” Varrick leaned in close to her and waggled his eyebrows. “Lucky you, huh?”

Tao Zi looked plaintively at her hands, which were resting on her lap, and said nothing. She didn’t feel lucky. In fact, she felt cursed. Tears welled up in her eyes again.

As Tao Zi began to cry, Varrick finally backed off. His smile gradually faded as he looked from her face to her hands, then back at her face again. Seeming unsure of what to say, he turned to Zhu Li. Out of the corner of her eye, Tao Zi saw him gesticulating and pantomiming wildly towards his assistant.

After a moment of what appeared to be an intense conversation without words, Zhu Li bowed to excuse herself. She spent a few moments rummaging around in the bar beside her, and produced an exquisite little tea set. Tao Zi watched as Zhu Li selected the leaves, poured the water, and let it steep—it smelled like cinnamon and warmth. Tao Zi reached out tentatively to take a cup and saucer when it was finished. It seemed safe to drink—Varrick was enjoying it, at any rate.

“Yeah, _that’s_ the stuff. _Ah_ ,” Varrick sighed, nostrils flaring as he inhaled the steam and wrapped his fingers around the handle, pinky sticking out awkwardly.

“Go on, try it, it’s not gonna kill you,” he prodded Tao Zi in the side with his elbow. Zhu Li shot him a stern look—he made a face back at her, then slurped loudly without remorse.

Tao Zi took a tiny sip. Her shoulders finally relaxed. The tears in her eyes were happy this time.

“It’s delicious.”

“I know, right? How does she _do_ it? Is it the cinnamon, or is it _witchcraft_?!” Varrick asked dramatically. “My money’s on witchcraft,” he whispered conspiratorially, but not very subtly, to Tao Zi. 

Zhu Li did not look terribly amused, but Tao Zi smiled for the first time since they’d left the theater.

When the tea had been drained to the last drop, Tao Zi mumbled her thanks to Varrick for the fruit (most of which he had already eaten) and hailed a cab to take her home. When it pulled up to the curb and flashed its lights, she gave Varrick and his assistant each a firm handshake before departing.

“Call me again if you still wanna go skydiving,” Varrick said, making finger guns out the window at Tao Zi as she climbed into the taxi. 

Tao Zi disappeared down Fifth Avenue and returned to her flat. She did not call Varrick again to go skydiving. 

She did, however, send a note—in an envelope addressed to Zhu Li, containing a single, neatly-written sentence:

_Thank you for the tea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next time, we'll join Varrick and Zhu Li as they "pedal" their wares during a business trip to the Earth Kingdom (that pun will make sense in hindsight, I promise).


	2. A Varri-Cycle Built for Two

Zhu Li was well aware that a day with no kidnappings or explosions could still be a qualified disaster. That was mainly because even when she was at her most vigilant, Varrick was prone to saying or doing things that were profoundly tactless. And _those_ kinds of disasters, in her opinion, were much harder to avoid than a pit full of mink snakes or an ambush. She’d decided long ago, though, that it was best to just do as she was told and try not to visibly cringe when something inevitably went wrong. Or, in this case, when things seemed to be going _right_ , but she felt deeply, deeply uncomfortable.

“You know, your petunias are _really_ something else! Although I gotta tell ya, they still have a _lot_ of catching up to do if they wanna look as beautiful as the lady who planted ‘em,” Varrick said, lowering his gaze to the girl beside him.

“Oh, you flatterer, you!” said the girl, her voice raising an octave as she let out a shrill giggle and twirled a piece of hair around her finger.

Zhu Li sighed internally. At least the weather was nice. Varrick had stopped for an audience with Yufan Ling, an heiress from the Earth Kingdom, and presently they were picnicking in a private garden in Omashu. Varrick had assured Zhu Li that this trip was _strictly_ for business; although she wasn’t quite sure what manner of _business_ necessitated Yufan spoon-feeding him leek soup.

“Say ‘ _aaaah_ ,’ darling,” Yufan said. She batted her eyelashes as she delicately maneuvered the spoon towards him. 

Varrick blocked the spoon with the palm of his hand. “Wait, wait, hang on a second.” He turned around. “Zhu Li, do the thing.” 

In a single, fluid motion, Zhu Li wrapped a large cloth napkin embroidered with the company logo around his neck. Yufan’s adorable smile stayed plastered in place, though it looked notably more strained than it had a few seconds ago.

“I just had this thing dry cleaned!” Varrick explained, motioning to the front of his suit. “Cost me a fortune to get the guava stains removed. I’m not about to make _that_ mistake twice.”

Yufan’s eyebrow twitched.

“All right, keep it coming,” Varrick said, pointing to his face. He closed his eyes and parted his lips. Yufan jammed the spoon in his mouth and yanked it out with more force than you’d expect from someone so petite—it made a little _pop_ on its way out.

“Um, Varrick, darling?” Yufan asked, touching her cheek shyly. “May I ask you something?”

“Ask away,” Varrick said. He gave her a winning smile as he wiped soup off the side of his mouth with his hand. “I’ll tell you anything you wanna know! Unless it’s something I signed a non-disclosure agreement about. Not that I’d remember if I signed one of those things, anyway.”

“Well, it’s just…” Yufan edged closer to him, lowering her voice. “What is _she_ doing here?” Her painted lips drew themselves into a pout. 

His eyes turned back towards Zhu Li, who was seated across from them on the picnic blanket, a dull expression on her face. The faint sounds of scribbling could be heard as she scratched away at her tablet with a number two pencil.

“What, you mean Zhu Li? She’s taking notes,” Varrick explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Zhu Li’s head stayed buried in the pages of her notebook.

“Notes about _what_?” Yufan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, _you_ know—expenditures, observations about birds, all the good ideas that come out of my mouth when I’m not paying attention to what I’m saying— _Zhu Li stuff_. But don’t you worry your pretty little head about it,” Varrick said. He ruffled Yufan’s hair, which only seemed to irritate her more.

“ _You’ve_ gotta get ready for the surprise I brought you!” he said.

Yufan’s eyes lit up. “You brought me a surprise?” she asked giddily. She flattened her hair again with her fingers at lightning speed, then clasped her hands eagerly in front of her. “Darling, you _shouldn’t_ have! I can’t wait to see it—”

“Well, guess what?! The wait is over! Zhu Li, show her the thing,” Varrick said with a flourish. Zhu Li pocketed the notepad and pulled a tarp off of a nearby object. It was painted bright blue, had two wheels, two seats, and two sets of handlebars.

“Oh,” Yufan gasped, jumping to her feet. “Why, it’s a bicycle!”

“ _Wrong_!” Varrick said jubilantly. “It’s a _Varri-cycle!_ Built for _two_! I made it myself.”

“Well, isn’t it just absolutely _adorable_! Show me how it works, dear,” Yufan said. She scooted closer to him as her already-rouged cheeks turned even pinker.

“Well, first _I_ get on the seat here,” Varrick said, climbing aboard the back.

“Uh-huh.” Yufan nodded emphatically, her tiny hands balled up under her chin.

“And then _you_ —” Varrick gently tapped Yufan on the nose—

“Uh-huh?!”

“You go stand over there,” Varrick said, pointing to the gazebo.

“Uh...uh-huh…?” Yufan said, getting in position nervously.

“And then Zhu Li gets in front and steers this thing!”

Yufan smiled and punched the gazebo.

***

“Man, _that’s_ weird,” Varrick said to Zhu Li shortly thereafter, when Yufan’s butler had politely shown them the door. “I thought for _sure_ she’d wanna invest in the Varri-cycle. It’s a guaranteed hit! Didn’t she see how much _fun_ I was having?!” Varrick swept his arms out. His eyes bulged just slightly for a second; then he furrowed his brow and stroked his mustache. Zhu Li stopped writing and looked at him, but didn’t say anything.

“I mean, I guess it coulda been because you almost ran over that shrub, but it didn’t seem _essential_ or anything. Why on _earth_ would she turn it down? It practically prints money!” Varrick continued.

Zhu Li scratched Yufan’s name off the list of potential investors in her notebook. Somehow, her heart felt lighter.

“It’s a mystery, sir.”

***

One of the cornerstones of Varrick’s business model was his staunch belief in going wherever the money was. On Tuesday, the money was in Gaoling, and on Friday, it was in Ba Sing Se. In every city, he had a favorite hotel, a favorite restaurant, and a lady waiting to see him.

...Well, ‘ _waiting_ ’ may have been too strong a word.

“Are you sure she’ll want to see you again after what happened last time?” Zhu Li asked as she pedaled the Varri-cycle up a steep incline lined with bright red maple trees. A stately old mansion with sloping pagodas loomed at the top.

“Are you kidding?” Varrick answered from behind her. He was seated on the rear of the Varri-cycle, though he had given up pedaling a while ago. His feet were resting on the handlebars in front of him. “Xing can’t get enough of me!”

“If you say so, sir.”

“And before you ask, _yes,_ I sent her a formal letter of apology. Girls love those!”

Zhu Li was almost impressed. “What did it say?” she asked cautiously.

“How should I know? _I_ didn’t write the thing,” Varrick answered.

Zhu Li decided it would be best not to ask any more questions.

They arrived at the front door of the mansion and dismounted. Varrick patted down his hair and double-checked his cuff links while Zhu Li retrieved the flowers and fruit basket from the Varri-cycle. 

“How do I look?” Varrick straightened out his back and stuck his hands on his hips, puffing his chest out a little.

“Like a million yuans, sir,” Zhu Li said. There wasn’t much enthusiasm in her voice, but for what it was worth, he knew she meant it.

“Okay, do the thing,” he said.

Zhu Li rang the doorbell.

Lady Xing, the owner of the estate, answered the door. She instantly looked like she wished she hadn’t.

“Surprise! Great to see you, Lady Xing.” Varrick bestowed a kiss on the young noblewoman’s hand. She snatched it out of his grasp, a look of disgust crossing her otherwise lovely features.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Xing narrowed her eyes. 

Varrick had already started to sweat. “Well, I was just in the neighborhood on business; figured I’d swing by and pay you a visit. Thought you might wanna hit the town, maybe check out that new cake place—”

“You have _some_ nerve if you think you can just waltz back up here and ask me out for cake like nothing happened!” Xing folded her arms. Varrick’s face fell as she tore into him. “Why should I give you another chance? Give me _one_ good reason!”

Varrick’s mouth opened and closed like an elephant koi’s. “W—well, I...I got you a gift basket!” he said, scrambling to pluck the present out of Zhu Li’s hands. He smiled nervously and shoved it under Lady Xing’s nose.

“Apricots,” Xing said, peering over the side of the basket.

“That’s right! I know how you love apricots,” Varrick said, nudging the basket towards her.

Xing threw up her hands and screamed. “ _I’m ALLERGIC to apricots!_ ” 

She brought both her arms down with the force of a mother platypus bear defending its young, slapping the basket out of Varrick’s hands. Apricots rained down upon the ground, smacking against the stone tile with squishy little plops.

Varrick backed away a few steps; just enough to keep himself out of arm’s reach in case Lady Xing decided to slap anything else.

“Zhu Li, pick these up!” Varrick shouted, brandishing a finger. “And fire whoever ordered this gift basket!”

“ _You_ ordered it, sir,” Zhu Li said wearily as she shooed away a stray lemur who had also decided to pick up some apricots.

Xing heaved a huge, rasping sigh. She rested her palm against her forehead at the spectacle. “You _really_ don’t have any idea how to treat another person, do you?! No woman in the Queen’s _entire_ court wants to deal with you. You know _why_? You don’t bother to learn the first thing about a girl. And when she _tells_ you, you don’t even remember! It’s like—it’s like you don’t know anything about _anyone_ except yourself! We’re all just _props_ to you!”

Varrick actually seemed to take a little offense to that. “Now _that_ is completely untrue.” He stuck out his jaw. “I know plenty of things about _plenty_ of women!”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Xing said, rolling her eyes. “Then name _one_ woman in the _entire_ Earth Kingdom that you know something about. Go ahead, I’ll wait.”

“Fine, I will!” Varrick said, bristling with indignation. “Take Zhu Li over here, for example—I just so _happen_ to know that her favorite color is blue, her favorite tea is orange pekoe, and her favorite flowers are hydrangeas,” he said, ticking off a finger for each item. Then he settled back on his heels, looking stupidly pleased with himself.

Lady Xing’s eyes drifted to the bespectacled woman picking apricots up off the ground. Zhu Li wasn’t a very reactive person; she took refuge in the fact that most people couldn’t get a read on her. But Xing, she knew, was shrewd enough to pick up on the little things that others usually missed—like the way Zhu Li had just paused for a moment, wrist trembling slightly, before going for the next apricot; the way her eyes widened just for a second. The air between the three of them grew tense and silent.

Varrick cleared his throat. “Isn’t that right, Zhu Li?” he said pointedly.

“I wasn’t aware you’d noticed, sir,” Zhu Li responded with all her usual sarcastic edge. Varrick shot Xing a smug look that said _I told you so._

“Oh, I see,” Xing said icily. “ _Well_. If you love that frumpy little assistant of yours so much, why don’t you take _her_ out on the town? I’m sure you’ll be _very_ happy together. Good _bye_ , Varrick.”

Xing slammed the door. Startled by the sudden noise, Varrick slipped on an apricot and toppled over onto his rear end.

“ _Geez!_ ” he exclaimed, picking the bouquet up off the porch and lobbing it at the closed door. Petals scattered everywhere, flurrying around him in the air before they fluttered gently back to earth. “Who put a bumble fly in _her_ bonnet?!” 

Zhu Li finished picking up fruit and stood up. She bent over Varrick slightly, pulling some of the stray daisy petals out of his hair. He looked up at her, and his sour expression dissolved into a pensive one. 

“She’s right about one thing, though,” he said as Zhu Li offered a hand to help him off the ground. He reached out and took it, grunting in discomfort as he righted himself.

“What’s that, sir?” Zhu Li asked, genuine curiosity finding its way into her voice as her eyes flicked up towards his. Their hands and gazes lingered on each other for just a moment.

“You and me...” he started—there was a slight pause, and Zhu Li’s pulse quickened; her breath caught in her throat—

“...are gonna have to go downtown. I prepaid for a 27-layer cake, and _somebody’s_ gotta eat it.”

The gleam in Zhu Li’s eyes faltered; her expression flattened itself out again. Varrick flung himself over the side of the Varri-cycle and started flipping through some folders protruding from the bicycle basket. The world around Zhu Li came back into focus, but her heart was still racing.

“Come on, hurry up, Zhu Li, time is money! You have two hands, you can eat cake and work on filing these patents at the same time!” Varrick said, waving her over without looking up at her.

Zhu Li loaded the apricots back onto the bike and hopped on. At least the ride downhill would be a little more pleasant than the ride up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for tuning in again! And thank you for the lovely comments on Chapter 1; they really made my day! I don't always know what to say in reply but I really can't thank you enough. And another shoutout to my betas as well!
> 
> A little note on the names of Varrick's girlfriends so far, since I researched them pretty meticulously!
> 
> Tao Zi's name is a Chinese reading of a common Japanese girls' name, 桃子 (Momoko), which contains the character for "peach" (there was a peach in her gift basket)
> 
> Yufan is the name of the author of an article I read about how Chinese given names work, so I'm not sure how it'd be written, but I thought she deserved a little credit for unwittingly helping with my story :,)
> 
> And Xing (杏) is Chinese for "Apricot!" Hehe. Just wanted to throw in some irony.
> 
> Next time, Varrick crashes a party at the North Pole and Zhu Li has her first encounter with his crazy waterbending ex-girlfriend.


	3. Lie Big and Leave Fast

Zhu Li was about a quarter of the way through the cake and about halfway through the patents when Varrick suddenly came up with an idea for a new flavor of Varri-cakes. The first batch of the mass-produced, individually wrapped snacks that he’d manufactured hadn’t sold very well. The new ones had to have _jelly_ in them, he insisted. 

They spent the next four hours going back and forth about the logistics of mechanically filling thousands of tiny cakes with jelly, much to the restaurant owner’s annoyance. Feeling as though he’d used up all of his genius for the day, Varrick fell asleep immediately after they arrived back at the hotel. Zhu Li stayed awake into the wee hours of the night finishing the patent paperwork and manually filling their current stock of promotional Varri-cakes with jelly, and she woke up looking more exhausted than when she’d gone to bed. 

But there was no more time to rest—at sunrise the two of them boarded Varrick’s yacht and charted a course for the North Pole. There, Varrick would be attending the Annual Hail Ball, the most exclusive gala in Agna Qel’a —a gala he had not, in fact, been invited to. As always, though, there was a loophole if one looked hard enough. This particular loophole’s name was Uki; she had an invitation that would admit herself and one guest and, for reasons that would become abundantly clear to Zhu Li later on, she did not have a date to the Annual Hail Ball.

And so it went—same routine, different mansion. At least Varrick’s usual gift of a fruit basket had very little chance of accidentally poisoning its recipient today, mainly because all the fruit had frozen solid at some point during the time Zhu Li spent dragging it—and Varrick—across the icy tundra via sled. 

After a long walk, they found themselves standing at the gates of a palatial residence made entirely of ice, trimmed with ornate carvings of various marine animals. Mounds of snow from a recent blizzard were piled up near the door. Zhu Li navigated around the slippery patches and rang the bell, but no one came to answer it. She looked back at Varrick, who seemed even more restless and shifty-eyed than usual.

“Perhaps she’s not home, sir,” Zhu Li said.

“No, she’s here—she’s _definitely_ here,” said Varrick. He licked his finger, held it out as if to detect some subtle shift in the wind, and then remarked “ _You smell that?!_ ” 

He inhaled deeply and looked over both his shoulders, then scuttled around and looked over both of _her_ shoulders for good measure. Zhu Li gave him a sharp sideways glance, wondering for a brief moment if he’d been hitting the caffeine too hard again. Then she suddenly recoiled as something smacked her in the olfactory like a ton of bricks—there really _was_ a peculiar fragrance in the air. It was quite possibly the strongest perfume she had ever smelled—the cloying scent of roses, chrysanthemums, lotuses, and lillies all mixed together at once in a cacophony of scents. 

“Watch where you step, Zhu Li, she could be _anywhere_ ,” Varrick whispered out of the side of his mouth. He started poking at random piles of snow with the tip of his boot.

“...Sir? What’re you…?” 

That’s when Zhu Li’s reflexes kicked in—something was stirring in the snow bank to their left. 

“ _Look out!_ ” she said, getting in position to push her boss out of harm’s way if the need arose. Before she could fully react, a tall, foreboding figure erupted out of the snow bank and latched onto him.

Varrick found himself in the cold, icy grip of his ex-girlfriend’s embrace. 

“ _Oogh_ ,” he grunted. 

“At last, Sir Varrick!” the woman shouted up to the sky. “At _long_ last…allow me to take a proper look at you,” she said.

Just as quickly as she had launched herself into him, the severe-looking woman grasped Varrick by the shoulders, shoved him away from her, and held him at arm’s length. Icicles dangled from her sleeves, and her dark hair was caked with snow. She scrutinized him from head to toe, her blue eyes screwed up in concentration. She stroked her chin with her long, painted fingernails. “Yes, yes, most satisfactory,” she said, muttering to herself as she let go.

Varrick finally exhaled, a great puff of condensation seeping slowly from his mouth. After he’d had a moment to himself, he snapped back into an upright position, grimaced, and slapped the woman on the back with a little more force than seemed necessary.

“It’s _swell_ to see you too, Uki.”

***

“Leave your offering by the stairs. But _do_ mind Kojiro. He’s not very fond of people,” Uki said as she waved Zhu Li and Varrick into her abode. A fat tiger seal growled at them as they entered. 

Varrick gulped audibly and ducked behind Zhu Li, who took Kojiro in stride. After all, the tiger seal wasn’t the strangest thing in Uki’s sitting room. A great brass telescope, crystals of all shapes and sizes, parts of a suit of armor, and an assortment of herbs and oils were strewn about. Those, of course, paled in comparison to the alchemical diagrams chalked onto the floor, and what appeared to be a mummy. 

While Zhu Li set the gifts down by the stairs as requested, Uki busied herself lighting candles around the room. “I knew, of course, that you would return to me this very day, Sir Varrick. The time of your arrival was written in the stars.”

It was also written in the telegram that was sitting on the coffee table, but neither Varrick nor his assistant found it prudent to bring that up.

Varrick shrunk back a bit when Uki sat next to him on the chaise longue and placed her freezing cold hands on either side of his face. “Now, allow me to gaze into your mind for a moment,” she said.

Varrick shot up stiffly, looking like he was ready to leap out of his own skin. “ _Zhu Li!_ ” he said, voice rasping, “It’s colder than a buffalo yak’s backside in here! Make us some hot tea!” He punched the air for emphasis. 

Uki stood up beside him with equal fervor, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and drawing him in. “There is _no need_ , good sir! I have already brewed you an herbal remedy. I trust you will find it sufficient.” She reached into her lavender robes and produced a flask, which she pressed into his hand.

Varrick’s left eye twitched as he smiled. “Sounds fantastic, Uki, bet it works like a charm,” he said, uncorking it to take a whiff. He choked a few times, then quickly sealed the flask back up. 

“Tell you what though, it’s getting late, so _I’ll_ drink it while _you_ go doll yourself up for the ball, huh?” he said. He put a hand on her shoulder, turned her around, and walked her towards the stairs.

“Yes, yes, very well. I shall need to select an appropriate ornament for my staff, at any rate,” Uki said, stroking her chin again. 

“I had a feeling you would!” Varrick said in reply, tapping her on the nose. “ _You_ are _delightful_ ,” he said, waving at her until she disappeared up the stairs. He dropped his hand and his smile as soon as she was gone.

“She,” he whipped around to face Zhu Li, who was now directly behind him holding a freshly-brewed cup of tea, “is _terrible._ ”

Zhu Li handed him the teacup and took the “herbal remedy” from him. She dumped the contents of the flask into a nearby potted plant, which instantly wilted. She and Varrick turned to each other slowly and exchanged concerned glances. Upstairs, a door creaked open. 

“Good Sir Varrick, you may unpack your bags now, if you wish. The guest room is just past the apothecary. I shall need you to be settled and well rested for the ritual tomorrow,” Uki’s voice echoed down the stairs.

There was an uncomfortable pause. Varrick, who was looking a bit blue around the edges, threw back his head and chugged the contents of the teacup in a single gulp. Zhu Li retrieved the empty cup from him and tucked it back in her satchel.

“I’ll...go get the bags,” Zhu Li said, hesitating a bit as she reached for the doorknob.

Varrick was between her and the door almost instantly. “Don’t you _dare_ , Zhu Li. We are _not_ staying here tonight!” he said, keeping his voice low and shoving his index finger in her face.

Zhu Li nodded. “Understood, sir. Should I inform Uki about the change of plans?”

“Are you _kidding_ ? She’ll probably try to turn us into hog monkeys if you do that! And I do _not_ wanna end up eating lychee nuts in a cage—not _again_ ,” Varrick said, pacing the floor. “So here’s the plan: we go to the big shindig, I show up with Uki, I rub elbows with all the Northern Water Tribe bigwigs, I make a good impression. _You_ put on that server’s uniform I got you, hand out as many Varri-cake samples as you possibly can, and _then,_ ” he stopped and whirled around on his heel, landing inches from Zhu Li’s face, “As soon as the party’s over, _you_ are gonna figure out a way to get me outta there. What do I _always_ say about dealing with crazy women, Zhu Li?”

Zhu Li frowned and adjusted her glasses. “Lie big and leave fast, sir,” she said.

Varrick smiled. “ _Exactly.”_

It was going to be a long night.

***

The Northern Lights were already glittering in the night sky when the opening ceremonies of the Hail Ball kicked off. The festivities were taking place aboard the _Guiding Spirit,_ a small but luxurious cruise liner that was rumored to be a favorite of the Earth Queen herself. Although the sanctimonious elders of the Northern Water Tribe were quick to scorn such indulgences, the tribe’s nouveau-riche, who had made their fortunes selling everything from telephones to oil, flocked to it in droves.

The top deck was draped in blue silk ribbons and glittering crystal snowflakes, bathed in the soft aqua-colored glow of five hundred decorative paper lanterns. Each one shone like a delicate, miniature moon. Underneath the dancing lights in the sky, it all seemed like a beautiful dream—for people who had time for dreaming, anyway. 

Zhu Li did not.

“Here you are, ma’am. Compliments of Varrick Global Industries,” she said with no expression whatsoever as she handed out the one-hundred-forty-seventh Varri-cake with a business card taped to the side.

Another middle-aged woman approached her, although she didn’t seem to be one of the revelers—her businesslike attire suggested that she was a crew member. “Hey, we need another batch of shrimp or these people are going to riot. Can you go see what’s taking them so long?”

Zhu Li neither knew nor cared much about the apparent shrimp shortage, but she couldn’t risk blowing her cover. She nodded and headed below deck, where she supposed the kitchen ought to be. She found the door to the galley two floors down, past the casino deck and the ballroom. That’s where she spotted Varrick, entertaining a crowd with one of his inventions. 

“All right, ladies and gents, no pushing—one at a time with the Varri-scope,” he said, indicating a handheld device with two eyeholes in it. The eyepiece was connected to a board, and at the end of it,a pair of photos was tucked in place. The Varri-scope had an elegant brass handle, which Varrick passed into the hands of an onlooker. “But be prepared to have your socks knocked off—it’s like a vacation for your eyeballs!”

A well-coiffed party guest peered through the lenses. “Oh gee, it’s like I’m really looking at the Eastern Air Temple!” she said, turning towards a friend. “Mikak, you’ve _gotta_ see this!”

Zhu Li allowed herself a brief moment to observe Varrick in his element, surrounded by an adoring crowd. He had already let the attention go to his head, which came as no surprise. Still, there was no denying that he had the charisma to draw people in and keep them there—a skill she’d never really picked up herself. Not that she’d ever need it.

As the Varri-scope changed hands again, Zhu Li ducked into the kitchen. The sous-chef assured her that he was almost finished plating the shrimp, then squinted, looked her over again, and asked “Wait, do you even _work_ here?”

Zhu Li didn’t miss a beat. “Not really. It’s a temporary position.” 

***

In the time it had taken her to do three more shrimp runs and pass out 157 more Varri-cakes, Zhu Li had impressed the ship’s hospitality manager so much that she’d been promoted to head of the seafood buffet. The new position came with a gold-plated name tag and a brand new hat. Varrick found her serving up shellfish under a large awning in the dining area on the top deck.

“May I help you?” she asked him as he stood staring at her from across the buffet table, his face screwed up in a wrinkly frown. He was holding up the line.

“Zhu Li, you _do_ remember you work for _me,_ right?” Varrick said, glaring daggers at the Shrimp Captain’s hat that sat neatly atop her head. He pointed at her, then back at himself.

“Just trying to blend in, sir,” Zhu Li said, ladling cocktail sauce onto his plate with tremendous indifference.

“Well _stop_ trying to blend in; _you’re blending in too much_!” Varrick said, skewering a half-dozen shrimp and piling them on his tray. “This whole plan’s not gonna work if you’re too busy slinging seafood to save me from my _doom_ ,” he said, taking a sudden, violent bite out of his food.

Zhu Li looked blankly back at him, annoyed that he would even entertain the notion that she’d somehow decided to leave him for a full-time job as a glorified waitress—even if there _was_ a lot of upward mobility and the dental benefits and retirement plan were excellent. His seeming lack of faith was concerning, but there were more pressing matters to worry about—the sickly-sweet scent of perfume wafted onto the deck as Uki ascended the grand staircase.

“Drat, here she comes! _Act natural_ ,” Varrick said without turning to look in the direction of the smell. His shoulders and neck stiffened in anticipation.

“Sir Varrick, _there_ you are! I find myself growing _very_ impatient with you,” Uki said, startling several of the gulls that were roosting on the mast as she stomped up to him. She stopped sharply and pointed her long, oaken staff in his direction. The crystal ball on the end hovered a centimeter from Varrick’s head.

Varrick turned around and turned up the charm. “ _Uki_ _!_ There _you_ are; been looking all over for you! Thought you might be getting hungry by now. Here you go!” He took the staff out of her outstretched hand and swapped it with one of his shrimp kebabs.

Uki looked at the kebab as though it were deeply offensive. “Did you not say you would join me for a dance? That was _hours_ ago. And yet I see you _here_ , cavorting with these wastrels,” she said, eyeing the waitstaff with contempt. “I must confess I am _rather distressed_ at your behavior!”

That was probably an understatement, because she was squeezing the shrimp into pulp with her bare hand.

“Uki, sweetheart, _relax_ , the night is still young!” Varrick threw an arm around Uki’s bony shoulder. “You _really_ need to loosen up! You’ll have plenty of time to tangle with my two left feet later—you just need to kick back and enjoy yourself!”

“ _Enjoy_ myself?” Uki repeated the phrase as though it were foreign.

“Sure! Go mingle, try the punch, play a few rounds of shuffleboard; the world is your oyster!” Varrick said, taking in a forkful of his seafood platter. He paused and made a face as he chewed. “Also, this oyster is your oyster. I don’t want it anymore,” he said, foisting his plate off onto her. “But hey, that’s enough of my yapping—get out there and have the time of your life!” He grinned from ear to ear, nudging her out from under the awning.

As soon as Uki was without cover, the seagulls dive bombed her, ripping the seafood platter in her hands to shreds amidst the sound of her shrieks. Varrick winced.

“For the record, I did _not_ mean for that to happen,” he said, turning to Zhu Li, “But I’m not one to let a good opportunity go to waste.”

He dropped Uki’s staff and took off running in the opposite direction. 

“One more hour, Zhu Li! That’s all I’m gonna need!” he called over his shoulder at her as he disappeared into the crowd.

Zhu Li sighed and stepped in to start swatting birds away. This was fine. She already had a plan.

***

At midnight, the ship would arrive back at the harbor. Zhu Li had already worked out every possible route by which they could disembark without being noticed by Uki, and she’d pulled all the necessary strings to make sure that Varrick’s yacht was moored as close to the _Guiding Spirit’s_ final destination as possible for a quick getaway. All Varrick needed to do was keep a low profile until they were back at the docks, and they’d be halfway to Republic City by morning.

Sadly, even Zhu Li’s best-laid plans could fall apart at the seams when something unexpected happened.

“You want me to meet _who_ now?” Varrick said to Uki, who had come upon him suddenly while he was explaining the mechanics of moving pictures to some prospective investors. She looked a bit worse for the wear after the seagull attack. Her hair had been pulled out of its tidy little bun, falling in limp, uneven strands around her face. One of her dress straps was torn. Her eyes had a sudden edge of danger to them now, like a lit powder keg waiting to go off. Zhu Li had a bad feeling about it—which was why she’d decided to carry a tray of _hors d'oeuvres_ down to the ballroom and monitor her from a safe distance away.

“My _father_ , good Sir! As I have been _trying_ to tell you all evening, he is the captain of this very ship! It would only be proper to inform him of your intentions, would it not?” Uki said, grinding the beads of her necklace together in her hand.

“Sorry, _really_ not following you here—inform him of what, exactly?” Varrick asked, fiddling with the filmstrip he was holding and only half-listening.

“Of your intentions to marry me, of course, Sir Varrick!”

 _That_ got his attention. “ _What?!_ ”

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how very _skittish_ you’ve been all night! And thus, I came to the most logical conclusion—you have been meaning to ask for my hand. And I do _quite_ agree that it is _high time_ you ceased all this nonsense and settled down,” Uki said, seizing the strip of film he was holding. She crumpled it between her fingers.

Varrick made a desperate grab for the film, wrestling it out of Uki’s grasp and tucking it inside his coat. “Uki, I’m gonna have to stop you right there. Now, I think you’re a beautiful gal and all, but you’ve got the wrong— _ack_!”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Uki had grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him towards the door. The other party guests scattered off to the sides, not wanting to get in the way of the apparent lovers’ quarrel. As the crowd cleared out, Varrick searched the area frantically and spotted Zhu Li offering shrimp to a guest. She and Varrick made eye contact from across the room. No sounds were escaping him in the silent struggle, but she could read his lips—

“ _Do the thing.”_

In an instant, Zhu Li threw the tray aside, sending the shrimp plummeting to the floor. High heels clacked against marble as she broke into a sprint and prepared to jump over a table in order to close the gap between them. As she vaulted over it, she grabbed a paper menu and folded it up neatly so that the writing on it was obscured. She overtook Uki and stood in the doorway, barring her exit.

“Sir! I’m glad I caught you. It’s an urgent telegram from Firelord Izumi,” Zhu Li said, indicating the folded paper. “She requests your presence immediately.”

Varrick let out the breath he’d been holding. Uki did not let go of his arm.

“I really do apologize, Madam Uki, but this is an emergency. We can’t keep such an important client waiting,” Zhu Li said with such conviction that even Varrick was starting to believe her. 

Uki loosened her grasp slightly in apparent surprise —and that was all Varrick needed to wiggle away from her. “Well Uki, I hate to leave you like this, but a genius’s work is never done! Farewell, until we meet again,” he said. He took her hand to kiss it, thought better of it, and left her with a limp handshake instead. “See ya!”

And with that, he and Zhu Li took off running down the hallway.

“Wait a _moment_ , Sir Varrick!” Uki called after him. When he didn’t stop, she let out a frustrated scream and turned to one of the staff. “You there, crew member! Alert my father at once—that man is _not_ to leave this ship! Throw him in the brig if you must—”

The sound of Uki’s voice faded away as Zhu Li yanked Varrick into an emergency hatch that would lead them to the upper deck. She tugged him up the stairs and through the emergency exit door, adrenaline pumping through her veins with every step. They burst out of the door and found their way into the open air. The ship was still about a mile out from the docks, which would complicate things, but for now, Varrick was free.

Zhu Li was thrown off balance when he wrapped her in a crushing embrace. “Zhu Li, you’re a lifesaver!” he said. The smell of shrimp, sweat and aftershave and the feeling of second-hand warmth radiating from his coat as he threw his arms around her neck overtook her, and something in the pit of her stomach felt like it was melting.

She let out an involuntary noise at the contact, then tried to pull herself together. “It was nothing, sir,” she murmured into a mouthful of his fur-trimmed collar. She wondered if she should hug him back—her hands started to move—

“I mean you are _literally_ a lifesaver, Zhu Li. I had an inflatable flotation device installed in that uniform,” Varrick clarified. He pulled away to point at one of the buttons on her vest. “You gotta pull on that to activate the doohickey once we’re in the water—”

“Oh,” Zhu Li said flatly, letting the warm, melty feelings give way to exasperation. “Sir, there _are_ lifeboats—”

The sound of a crew member’s whistle pierced the air. A handful of uniformed men and women were rushing towards them.

“Less talking, more swimming, Zhu Li!” Varrick said, panic rising in his voice. He latched onto her from behind, assuming the piggyback position.

“All right,” Zhu Li conceded, securing her arms under his legs and preparing to jump overboard. “Hang on, sir.”

He took the Shrimp Captain’s hat off her head, plopped it down on his own, and pointed off in the direction of the docks as she leapt over the railing and pulled the cord on her vest.

“Full speed ahead!” he said at the top of his lungs as they plunged towards the icy depths below.

***

Somehow or other, they’d made it back to the yacht alive and in one piece. Zhu Li had enough sense to make sure they both toweled off and changed into dry clothing, although Varrick had insisted on keeping the Shrimp Captain’s hat on. Presently, he was pulling a tiny crab out of his hair and steering the ship while Zhu Li was acting as lookout.

“Sir, I think you’d better come have a look at this,” Zhu Li said, peering out of the starboard window through a pair of binoculars.

“What, another iceberg?” Varrick asked, sidling up to her and yanking the binoculars out of her hand. The cord was still attached to her neck, which made it all a bit awkward, but she managed to stay upright.

“No sir, it’s Uki. She appears to be waterbending,” Zhu Li said, lightly gripping the edge of the binoculars and adjusting their position. Far in the distance, Varrick spied Uki skimming the surface of the sea and speeding towards them with the look of a woman scorned.

Varrick slapped the window with his open palm. It slid down slowly, squeaking as it went. “Of _course_ she’s a waterbender, Zhu Li; the crazy ones always are,” he said.

Zhu Li took the binoculars back and refocused them on the sea, observing for a few more seconds. “She’s gaining on us,” she said.

“Ha! Not for long,” Varrick said, readjusting the Shrimp Captain’s hat. “Watch and learn, Zhu Li! Oh, and you might wanna hold onto something.”

He punched the throttle, and the yacht accelerated with a bang. Uki and the North Pole quickly disappeared behind them, but Zhu Li let the memory of a night under the glowing canopy of the Northern Lights and five hundred paper lanterns linger for just a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes for this chapter!
> 
> Thanks again to givebacknlivehappy who helped a bunch with grammar-related things, and jaganlekhani who gave me insight about keeping the POV consistent and how to write Uki's character!
> 
> The Varri-scope is based on a contraption called the Holmes Stereoscope that was sort of a precursor to modern virtual reality. Fun fact, when I looked it up it turned out one of my ancestors invented it!? Small world, huh?
> 
> **Names used in this chapter include:**
> 
> Uki (ᐅᑭ) - an Inuktitut name meaning “survivor.” She certainly survived that seagull attack, anyway. You are free to draw from your own imaginations, but in my head she is a mashup of Audrey Hepburn, Cruella de Vil, Yzma, Morgan Fey, and that lady in _Anastasia_ who says "Grandma, it's me...ANASTASIA."
> 
> Kojiro (小次郎) - was named after the samurai Sasaki Kojiro! He was a great fighter and all, but he is most famous for...dying in a duel with even-more-famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi.
> 
> Mikak - only mentioned in passing, but I chose "Mikak" for a member of the Water Tribe, based on a relatively well-known Labrador Inuk woman who lived in the 18th century. If you Google her, you'll see her beautifully-painted portrait!


	4. Feelings

It was a quiet, cool afternoon in Republic City—although, given the circumstances, it wasn’t going to _stay_ quiet for long. Varrick was sitting cross-legged on the roof of the Four Elements Hotel, his tongue poking up towards his nose as he screwed a panel to the back of a small, handheld device.

“Okay, Zhu Li, I think we’re about ready to fire this thing up. Put your goggles on!” he said, jumping to his feet.

Zhu Li, who had been handing him things wordlessly for the last several minutes, stood up beside him. She shot him a sideways glance through the standard-issue lab safety goggles she was already wearing.

“No, not _those_ goggles! The _science_ goggles!” he said, emphatically holding up a pair of much more decorative but otherwise functionally identical goggles. Zhu Li quietly swapped out her eyewear.

“ _Now_ we’re cooking! Take down some dictation for me, will ya?” he asked. Zhu Li readied her notepad.

“This is Remote Detonator Prototype Number Four, test sixteen. By pressing a button on this device, we can send a radio signal that will remotely trigger an electrical pulse, which will then ignite these explosives,” he said, splaying his arm out as he walked past a rack of fireworks. “I was gonna do it with some _real_ explosives—until the Republic City Fire Department found out. I tell ya, those knuckleheads wouldn’t know a good idea if it jumped up and bit ‘em in the face. I haven’t had an argument with _that_ many clowns since the day I left the circus!” he said, throwing his hands up in the air. “Anyways, where was I?”

“The test, sir,” Zhu Li said without looking up from her notes.

“Right! The purpose of this test is to see if we’ve eliminated any of the lag between the activation of the remote and the fireworks going off, and—well, who cares, we can fill in the rest of that stuff later. Zhu Li, do the thing!” he said.

Zhu Li produced a chronograph from the pocket of her lab coat. She and Varrick synchronized their movements—he tapped the button on the remote at the exact moment she clicked on the stopwatch function. The fireworks burst into the air all at once, their colors muted under the glaring sun.

Zhu Li clicked off the chronograph. “One point thirty-two seconds,” she said, pocketing the timepiece and writing the number down.

“Yes!” Varrick leapt up, punched the air, and then froze. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at her. “Wait, what was the one before that?”

“One point forty-six,” Zhu Li said.

“ _Yes_!” Varrick reiterated, punching the air again with his other arm. “Another record-breaking day! I am _unstoppable!_ ”

Zhu Li stopped writing and gently slid her pencil back behind her ear. She observed Varrick with quiet admiration as he followed the trails of leftover smoke through the sky with his eyes, basking in the glow of scientific achievement. It was moments like these that reminded her why she’d taken this job in the first place, and why she’d stayed on despite everything else. Even in the midst of the chaos that constantly followed them, they were still creating things together that no one else could ever dream of. A burst of warmth welled up in her chest at the thought, and though she kept it entirely to herself, she wished she could live in the moment just a bit longer.

A clock in the distance struck four.

“Okay, quitting time,” Varrick said, pulling one arm at a time across his chest in a stretch and yawning loudly. “Clean this stuff up, Zhu Li, the hotel’s gonna have a hippo cow if they see it,” he said, heading through the door. It clicked shut behind him. Zhu Li looked around her, sizing up the mess of clutter and broken machinery.

The door reopened with a _bang_ just as she started sweeping up the broken glass. Varrick stuck his head out sideways and pointed at her. “But don’t take too long! I have a date in an hour and a half, and I’m gonna need you to help me get this green stuff outta my teeth. Oh, and grab the parasol and a bottle of foot cream on your way down,” he said before disappearing into the building for a second time.

Although she had a nagging feeling that the best fifteen minutes of the day were behind them now, Zhu Li reminded herself that there would always be tomorrow—and the day after that, and the day after that. 

Maybe one day, he would see the way she looked at him in the fading light of the fireworks.

***

Two hours later, Zhu Li found herself squinting against the sunset, holding up a parasol in the middle of Republic City Park. The parasol wasn’t for her, of course. Beneath it sat Varrick, a woman with a long, silky black ponytail, and a Pai Sho board.

Varrick broke a long stretch of silence, sliding his hand out to move one of his game pieces. Then he snapped up one of his opponent’s. “Bam! Got your rock tile,” he said, twirling the wooden piece between his fingers and placing it on the table beside him. “That’s three for me!”

“...Hey, you’re pretty good at this,” the woman sitting opposite him said. She quirked an eyebrow and looked up at Varrick with an easy smile. Her name was Hira, it was their sixth Pai Sho match in as many days, and she had the good sense to let Varrick think he was winning this time. “Where’d you learn to play, anyway?”

“Used to have to play my friend Penyu every day back in the circus. The two of us were the Dancing Lion Turtle—shared the costume. Loser had to be the back half,” Varrick said with a half-grin and a sweeping hand gesture.

“Mmm, I don’t think I believe you,” Hira said. Her eyes gleamed with mischief as she reached out and moved one of her water tiles. “Lion turtle butts are pretty majestic. You lack a certain finesse, ya know?”

“Oh, _that’s_ what you think, huh? Guess I’ll have to give you a little of the ol’ Lion Turtle Dance demonstration. _Then_ you’ll change your tune,” Varrick said, standing up and twisting from side to side. He did a few warm-up squats.

“ _Here_? Right now?” Hira asked, tilting her head to the side.

“You bet your Pai Sho board right now!” Varrick said, putting one foot on the chair where he’d previously been sitting. He leaned across the table, dipping his head down towards Hira a bit. “Prepare to be amazed,” he said.

“Are you _serious_?” Hira said, snorting and stifling a laugh with her fist as Varrick ran off. He barged up to a young boy who was kicking a ball a few yards away and flashed him a crisp 10-yuan bill. The boy handed the ball over to him and ran off, and Varrick began dancing with it. 

“Oh _no_ , he _is_ serious,” Hira said, grinning wildly. She clapped and cheered for a few minutes while Varrick attempted to balance himself on top of the ball.

After a while, Hira paused and glanced up at Zhu Li, who was standing as still as a statue above her, parasol still in hand. “He’s really somethin’ else, huh?” Hira said, a wry smile on her face. She was keeping her voice low enough so that Varrick wouldn’t hear her from where he was dancing. It seemed like a rhetorical question—Zhu Li didn’t much feel the need to reply. 

Hira turned back to Varrick, but only briefly. “Hey, I think he’s gonna be at it for a while. You want me to hold that or anything?” She looked at Zhu Li again, inclining her hand toward the parasol.

Zhu Li finally peered down at the woman Varrick had been so keen on playing Pai Sho with lately. She noticed Hira’s sari was more elegant today than it had been yesterday—the silk brocade had patterns embroidered in shimmering golden thread. 

“No thank you,” Zhu Li replied, returning her attention to Varrick. His dance routine had suddenly been complicated by a large flock of turtle ducks waddling through the area to get to the pond behind him. Having seen this routine a few times before, Zhu Li realized that he had started improvising a bit.

Hira absently ran her finger around the edge of her white lotus tile. “So...look, I don’t mean to be weird or anything, but I don’t really know how it works in Rich Guy World—are you, like, his servant or his maid or something?”

Zhu Li frowned just slightly at the remark—a servant? A _maid_? Was that how she looked to other people? 

“I’m his executive assistant,” Zhu Li said simply. Hira seemed to be waiting for further information, but Zhu Li didn’t divulge any of the details of what she did on a day-to-day basis. Part of it was not wanting to have to talk about how much of her work revolved around plucking Varrick’s eyebrows and medicating his feet, and part of it was the somewhat new and complicated feeling that she shouldn’t become too friendly with any of Varrick’s romantic conquests. 

“Huh. Sounds fun,” Hira said. There was a long pause. “But how come he brings you out here every time I ask him to meet me?” 

Zhu Li didn’t know how to answer that question, but she was spared the agony of having to think about it. At that moment, Varrick lost his balance. Turtle ducks flapped and scurried out of the way as his flailing became erratic. In the same instant, Zhu Li cast aside the parasol and rushed towards the shore—she caught him by the waist with one hand when he was just inches from hitting the ground.

“Nice save, Zhu Li,” Varrick said out of the corner of his mouth. “Now...do a pose or something so it looks like that was _supposed_ to happen.”

Zhu Li swiftly and unenthusiastically stuck her other arm up in the air. Hira applauded politely.

“Sheesh, would it _kill_ you to smile?” Varrick said as she set him upright. Zhu Li passed the ball off to another group of children without comment, and she and Varrick made their way back to the picnic table. 

“Well! I stand corrected,” Hira said to Varrick as he sat back down. “You are _definitely_ lion turtle material.”

“And don’t you forget it!” Varrick pointed at Hira with a sly grin. “Now where were we?” he asked, gesturing to the Pai Sho board.

“It’s your move,” Hira said, innocently leaning her cheek against her palm.

Zhu Li picked up the parasol and resumed watching the game in silence. She noticed, with muted curiosity, that in the confusion, Hira had swapped two of Varrick’s pieces. 

***

The game concluded the way it had for the past six days: Varrick was the loser, and the loser bought the winner dumplings. The winner was _also_ craving fried octopus on a stick after Varrick described the Glacier Spirits Festival to her, so while he and Hira hung around Fan’s Dumplings swapping stories, Zhu Li was sent on a wild goose chase around the city to find a street vendor who sold fried octopus. Upon Zhu Li’s return, Hira passed around the octopus sticks with unbridled glee, making sure that each of the three of them had one.

“Cheers!” she said, smacking her fried octopus against Zhu Li’s and taking a huge bite. After she’d eaten her fill, Hira leaned over to her and whispered “By the way, you’re welcome.”

Frowning slightly, Zhu Li looked from Hira’s giggling visage down to her fried octopus and back again. “For what?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” Hira said with a wink. 

***

The next morning started just like many others before it. Through years of practice, Zhu Li had come to learn that Varrick liked his green tea to be poured while it was exactly 170 degrees. He drank it at around 10:23 every day with two teaspoons of honey in each cup, although the amount tended to vary slightly based on how hard he’d been thinking.

Zhu Li suspected that something was off when he stirred no less than five teaspoons of honey into his tea and then didn’t drink it. He stared into the depths of the cup for a full minute and a half, cleared his throat, and said “Have a seat, Zhu Li.” 

He motioned towards the chair directly across from his in the sitting room of the deluxe suite he was occupying. That’s when she _knew_ something was strange—not once in six years had he ever asked her to sit down during breakfast. Still, she gently slid into the chair as requested, her posture immaculate and her hands folded neatly in front of her. Varrick was having immense difficulty making eye contact.

“So! Crazy weather we’re having, huh?” he said, fiddling with the handle of his teacup.

Zhu Li looked out the window. It was sunny.

“Okay, so listen, it’s about last night—Hira said some things—she wants me to take her out today,” Varrick said. He pushed himself up out of his own chair and started pacing the floor. “She’s coming to pick me up at eleven. Said she wants a turtle duck boat ride before the pro-bending match this afternoon—”

Zhu Li looked up at him, nonplussed. “Should I bring a fruit basket, sir?” she asked.

Varrick stopped in his tracks and looked directly at her, a hint of terror creeping into his eyes. “She said she wants me to meet her _alone._ ”

Zhu Li’s stomach sank like a stone. “I see,” she said, keeping a closely guarded expression as she looked back at him. He searched her face for a moment, then furrowed his brows and folded his arms.

“And _then_ she told me to give you the day off,” he said, looking as though he’d just swallowed half a lemon. 

Zhu Li’s eyes drifted to the safe where she knew their latest set of blueprints was securely tucked away. Images of the sunny rooftop and the remote detonator prototype flashed through her mind. “I don’t think that’s strictly necessary,” she said. Her mouth turned down into a subtle frown. Even without him around, there was still so much that needed to be done.

“I _know_! That’s what _I_ said,” Varrick said, relaxing a bit and plopping himself casually back into his chair. “That is a _ridiculous_ idea,” he added, “What was she even _thinking?_ ”

Zhu Li’s left eyebrow raised slightly. “I wouldn’t say it’s _ridiculous,_ but—”

“You don’t _need_ time off! I mean, _come on_ , you’re practically a machine, what would you even _do_ if you weren’t working?” Varrick said, rolling his eyes dramatically. He stopped and waited for Zhu Li to agree with him, but instead, she closed her mouth, her eyes growing cold and distant. Varrick fell silent and leaned back further in his seat, shrinking away from her.

Zhu Li’s chair scraped across the floor as she stood up abruptly. “I’m sure I’ll think of _something_ , sir,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She turned and stalked out of the room, leaving Varrick to his own devices.

She heard his voice trailing behind her as she took off down the hallway. “Zhu Li, I didn’t say you could go _now_! I need you to iron my socks—actually, first things first, have you _seen_ my socks?” The sounds of his demands began to fade into the distance. “Zhu Li…? _Zhu Li..._!”

Zhu Li stepped into the elevator and didn’t look back.

***

A few hours passed. Zhu Li went to the library first to return a book she’d borrowed. She spent some time thumbing through the periodicals. Then she browsed an antique shop, where she ended up taking a slight detour to assist the elderly owners with the task of repairing their cash register, which was sticking. On her way down to the docks by the ferry station, she helped a small boy clean and bandage up a cut on his knee that he’d gotten while playing kick the can.

Zhu Li bought herself a yuzu flavored shaved ice from a street vendor and sunk down onto the seat of a brightly-painted bench facing Yue Bay. She took a bite of the frozen dessert—the sweetness rang a bit hollow. Slowly, she lowered the spoon, staring absently out at the water as boats gently meandered across its surface. Minutes passed without event, and the shaved ice started to melt. Zhu Li sighed and leaned back, not enjoying the quiet as much as she’d hoped she would.

“Is this seat taken? My feet sure could use a break,” a woman’s voice startled Zhu Li out of her reverie. She looked up to find an air acolyte standing there—a very pregnant one, at that. Zhu Li shifted over to make room.

“Thanks,” the woman said. She had her own cup of shaved ice, topped with orange slices and what appeared to be pickled radishes. Not a very palatable combination, but the acolyte seemed to be enjoying it. Zhu Li returned her attention to the sunlit bay. In spite of herself, she wondered how Varrick’s day was going—the pro-bending match would have started a few minutes ago.

“You know, I can’t help but notice you seem a little down,” the acolyte said. Zhu Li blinked and turned her head to the side to look at the woman who was attempting to strike up a conversation with her. She wore traditional orange robes typical of one who worked in the service of an Air Temple. Her slightly graying hair was pulled back into a loose bun, and her motherly eyes were warm with sympathy. “Is everything okay?”

Zhu Li didn’t know if it was the air acolyte’s earnest show of empathy or the fact that she didn’t know her and would probably never run into her again, but she felt as though it wouldn’t hurt to open up to this kind stranger.

“It’s my day off,” Zhu Li said miserably.

“Ah,” the acolyte replied with a knowing smile. “You want to know something? It’s my day off too,” she said. “It’s hard to just walk away and relax when your job’s important to you, though, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Zhu Li nodded, unsure of what else to say that would sum up everything she was feeling. Instead, she looked to her new companion, hoping she’d have more to say.

“Right? My husband _insisted_ that I take a break today, since I won’t have too many chances to pamper myself once the baby comes.” She took another bite of her odd-looking shaved ice, a sentimental look crossing her features. “But...well, it’s hard to explain. Between my duties to the Air Temple and my three kids, everything’s always such a whirlwind. I don’t get much in the way of peace and quiet. That’s why my hair’s starting to turn gray, I think,” she said with a laugh, motioning to the side of her head. “So I come out here, I watch the clouds, I eat whatever I want, and it’s nice for a while. But when I’m away...I miss them. I miss the chaos,” she said.

“I think I know what you mean,” Zhu Li said, her frown turning a few shades more dour. Maybe she’d gotten a little too accustomed to chaos herself—although it seemed the chaos in the older woman’s life held a different sort of warmth and meaning that Zhu Li wished she could relate to.

“Oh, well I’m glad we’re on the same page there! I was worried you might think I was a little crazy,” the acolyte said with a good-natured smile. “But that’s my story. What’s yours?”

“I’m afraid it’s not really much of a story,” Zhu Li said, gazing back out at the water. “I’ve worked for the same man for six years, and I’ve never taken a day off in all that time. I didn’t want to,” she explained.

“Oh,” the acolyte raised her eyebrows, impressed. “But you did today. What changed your mind?”

Zhu Li leaned forward and squinted at the horizon thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I was frustrated. I wanted to prove I could do something besides work,” she said, absently jabbing at some stray, slushy bits of yuzu pulp with her spoon. “And he…” she trailed off, trying to process the feelings she’d been biting back all day. Dejectedly, she sunk back into her seat, eyes trained on her melting dessert. “He has a date,” she said gloomily.

“Oh,” the acolyte’s eyebrows shot up even further. “What’s he like, your boss?”

Zhu Li paused a moment. How did one describe Varrick in a few sentences? It was like trying to capture a hurricane in a bottle. “He’s...not like anyone else I’ve ever met,” she said. “He’s loud, demanding, probably crazy—charming, though, in his own way, I suppose. Creative, determined to succeed...and absolutely brilliant. He has the most incredible new ideas every day. I’ve never known anyone so capable of changing the world,” she said, worry and warmth bubbling up in her chest all at once.

“And you want to change the world with him?” the acolyte said softly, her voice harboring a mixture of understanding and concern.

Zhu Li forced a smile, but it wasn’t enough to shake off the sadness that was weighing on her. Changing the world would be wonderful—but even if they did it side by side, she had a crushing feeling he’d still look at her as though she were, in his own words, a machine. “Something like that,” she said.

A welcome moment of silence passed between them. The acolyte took in her last few spoonfuls of shaved ice, then turned back to Zhu Li, looking like she’d worked out something profound.

“You know...not to brag, but I used to work for a pretty important person, too. Smart, complicated man. He had so much riding on his shoulders, he never really paid attention to much else. Amazing guy, but he drove me crazy,” the acolyte said.

“Oh,” Zhu Li said, regarding the acolyte with wide, interested eyes. “What did you do?”

The acolyte beamed like the sun. “I married him!”

Zhu Li nearly dropped her spoon.

“Well, I guess that’s not always going to be the right solution for _everybody_ ,” the acolyte said as an afterthought, “but it worked for me. You want my honest advice, though? I think maybe you should—”

Something sparked and fizzed in the sky over the Four Elements Hotel on the horizon, cutting their conversation short.

“Fireworks in the middle of the day again?” the acolyte said in exasperation, shaking her head at the sky. “What is going _on_ lately?”

Zhu Li tensed up. Something was wrong. Varrick almost never touched his work before 3:45 in the afternoon—it was only a quarter past one, and he was supposed to be at the pro-bending match right now— _why_ would he have triggered the detonator? It only had a range of about a hundred feet, so he couldn’t have accidentally set it off from the arena—perhaps someone _else_ had set it off—a thousand terrible possibilities flashed through Zhu Li’s mind. She stood up suddenly, her shaved ice forgotten. “I have to go,” she said.

“Oh, okay,” the acolyte said, confused but considerate. “Be careful.”

Zhu Li nodded and took off running.

“Oh, and Miss!” she heard the older woman calling out to her from behind. “You should try telling him about your feelings!”

Zhu Li gave her a wave of acknowledgement without turning back. _Easier said than done,_ she thought—but she’d hopefully have time to think about that later. 

***

“Hello, police department? I’m calling to report an explosion at the Four Elements Hotel,” Zhu Li said breathlessly into a public phone on the nearest street corner.

“ _Another_ one? Look, we can’t just drop what we’re doing and come running every time some moron sets off a firework, okay? We have _criminals_ to apprehend!” the officer on the other end of the line said.

“No, this is different,” Zhu Li said desperately, her knuckles whitening as her fist clenched around the receiver. “Someone could be in danger—Hello? _Hello?!_ ”

There was a click and a long dial tone—Zhu Li slammed the receiver down with a scowl.

It was all up to her now.

***

The next few minutes passed in a blur of panic and rapid motion—Zhu Li hailed a cab to the Four Elements and rushed up to the tenth floor, where Varrick’s suite was located. She burst through one set of doors, then another, until she was in the sitting room where she’d left him earlier.

Zhu Li froze as the second set of doors swung shut behind her. The room was in terrible disarray—everything from paperwork to pants had been flung to the far corners of the suite. Furthermore, Zhu Li realized she wasn’t alone. Three sets of eyes snapped up to look at her as she burst onto the scene, high heels in hand. Zhu Li narrowed her eyes and assumed a fighting stance, shoes at the ready.

“Shoot, it’s the assistant,” one of the intruders said—it was Hira, crouched down on the floor, both hands planted firmly on the safe where the blueprints were kept. She had ditched her long, elegant sari for a simple blouse and a practical pair of churidar pants.

“Ah,” said a second voice. It belonged to a woman a few years older than Hira with piercing olive green eyes. She wore golden earrings, a pristine salwaar kameez, and her thick, luxurious hair cascaded around her face in waves. “Nice to meet ya—the name’s Jargala,” she said with a wicked grin. She flicked a small, bright green object at Zhu Li, and very suddenly Zhu Li found that she couldn’t take another step forward—her feet were being encased in crystal. She realized too late that she’d been trapped in jennamite; colloquially known as creeping crystal.

“You must be Zhu Li. We’ve heard _so_ much about you,” Jargala said, stepping aside to reveal the table behind her. Varrick was slouched over the tabletop, nearly unconscious. His eyes were squeezed shut, and the fingers of his right hand opened and closed just inches away from a half-emptied cup of tea. 

Zhu Li’s eyes narrowed further as she fixed her gaze on Jargala. “What did you do to him?” she said, her posture fierce and defiant despite the creeping crystal weighing her down.

Jargala laughed and hopped up to sit on the wooden dresser that was next to the safe. “Relax, doll, he’ll be fine. Hira over here just slipped a little nightshade leaf and poppy seed extract into his tea so he’d tell us where the good stuff is. Isn’t that right, Mr. Varrick?”

Varrick groaned and mumbled something in his sleep that sounded like “ _Zhu Li, get in the canoe.”_

Jargala raised an eyebrow and leaned down towards Hira. “Seriously, how much of that stuff did you _give_ him?” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

Hira scowled and looked up at her partner in crime. “Hardly any! How was _I_ supposed to know he was such a lightweight!?” she said in protest.

The third burglar had been silent up until now. He was leaning against the wall, tossing the detonator prototype roughly from hand to hand. He wore dark gloves, an expensive suit jacket over his hakama and a menacing expression on his face. “Hey, cut the chit-chat over there. Work faster. I’m not paying you two to socialize,” he said.

“Oh, I’m sorry, _boss_ ,” Hira said, rolling her eyes. “Do _you_ wanna try metalbending this stupid safe?”

“Yeah, cram a sock in it and let the lady work, Ishida,” Jargala said, folding her arms. “She’s certainly got more bending skills than _you_ do. Not that that’s saying much. But if you didn’t want to listen to us gab, maybe you shouldn’t have hired us.”

The man called Ishida sneered and pushed off the wall, rounding on Zhu Li. “You know what? I’ve got a better idea,” he said, grabbing up a lead pipe that was laying across the bed. “How about either this lady gives us the combination to the safe, or we bust up her kneecaps?”

Zhu Li showed no signs of fright as Ishida approached her. She glowered at him as he took a practice swing. Ishida bared his teeth and let out a rasping laugh. “Oh, she’s a tough one. I like that. Okay, new plan—we break _his_ kneecaps instead,” he said, shrugging an arm towards Varrick.

A surge of white-hot fear shot up through Zhu Li’s chest as Ishida lifted the pipe to strike her boss. “No, don’t!” she said, the words tumbling from her mouth before she had any time to think things through. “Please—I’ll tell you the combination. Just don’t hurt him.”

“Well, well! That’s more like it,” Ishida turned to Zhu Li with a triumphant grin. “Go ahead, lady, I’m all ears.”

Zhu Li looked at Varrick’s sleeping face reticently—she knew she’d made the right choice in the heat of the moment, but it still felt like she was about to betray him. She turned her eyes down towards the floor, where the crystal was slowly making its way up her leg. “It’s fifteen, twenty-seven, thirty,” she said, her voice heavy with regret.

Ishida, lead pipe still in tow, shoved Hira aside and opened the safe. 

“Hey, take it easy, would ya?” Jargala said, flashing Ishida a disapproving look as she helped Hira back up to her feet. “It’s not going anywhere.”

Ishida ignored the protests of his hired muscle, his greedy fingers reaching into the safe to pull out the stack of blueprints inside—not just blueprints for the detonator, but for all of Varrick Global Industries’ current prototypes—everything from toasters to zeppelins. He flicked through the pages. “Yeah, this is the stuff,” he said.

“Okay, fine,” Jargala said, walking Hira past Zhu Li towards the door. “Then let’s take it and get outta here,” she said.

In the next instant, a handful of the same green jennamite crystals that had been used to subdue Zhu Li earlier pelted Jargala and Hira. Hira shrieked as the creeping crystal started to encase her and her accomplice. Ishida held up his gloved hand and smiled.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Jargala said, her voice shaking with rage. 

Ishida laughed heartily. “How do you like that? Just a little taste of your own medicine. Sorry to disappoint you girls, but I’m through working with you and the Creeping Crystal Triad. I’ve got a...higher calling, shall we say?” Ishida said, his cruel eyes twisted into a haughty grin. “But thanks for the blueprints and all the insider information about your little crime ring. I’m sure Amon and his Lieutenant will be _very_ interested in this stuff.”

“You dirty double-crossing _rat_!” Hira said. It seemed she had a few other choice words for the traitorous Ishida, but the jennamite muffled them as it crept up the bottom half of her face, covering her mouth.

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Ishida said. He tucked the blueprints and the prototype detonator into a duffel bag, which he flung over his shoulder. Then, to Zhu Li’s horror, he slid Varrick out of his chair and carried him towards the open window.

“What are you doing?” Zhu Li said, her face contorted in shock and anger. “You said you wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Oh, _I’m_ not going to hurt him. He’s precious cargo. Can’t say Amon will feel the same way, though. There’s quite a bounty on his head,” Ishida said, pulling a grappling hook out of his bag and fastening it to the window ledge.

“This wasn’t part of the deal,” Jargala said with a growl as Ishida secured Varrick and prepared to climb down.

“Then consider our contract terminated,” Ishida said, shrugging. “Farewell, ladies.” And with that, he was gone—he grabbed hold of the rope and slid down, disappearing out the window.

Zhu Li surveyed her surroundings—she still had her high heels in her hands. It was possible she could use them to chip away at the jennamite that was crawling up her legs and make it to Varrick in time—provided she could find out quickly where Ishida was headed. She began chiseling away at her feet in a frenzy.

“Easy there, sugar,” Jargala said. “Let’s think this through, okay?” Zhu Li glared daggers at the triad leader out of the corner of her eye, but Jargala maintained her cool demeanor. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if sensing something.

“Look, let’s call a truce, all right?” Jargala said. “There’s a weak spot in the jennamite between my wrists. If you can hit it just right, it should shatter—then my hands’ll be free and I can earthbend us all outta here.”

“Why should I trust you?” Zhu Li asked, still suspicious.

“Hey, you want your boss back and I wanna kick that good-for-nothing Ishida in the teeth,” Jargala shrugged. “Seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement to me.”

Zhu Li supposed she couldn’t argue with that logic. She brought the spiked heel of her shoe down on the jennamite between Jargala’s wrists, and just as Jargala had predicted, it shattered into pieces. Jargala squatted into as much of an earthbending stance as she could manage in her current position, ridding herself of the malignant crystal within moments. 

“All right, sweetheart, brace yourself,” Jargala cracked her knuckles and prepared to earthbend the creeping crystal away from the others as promised. She freed Hira first, since she was in the most danger of suffocating; but seconds later, Zhu Li discovered to her great relief that she could walk again. 

“Thank you,” Zhu Li said reluctantly as Jargala offered her a hand to steady herself. She took it and slipped her shoes back on one at a time.

“Don’t thank me yet,” the crime boss said, cracking her neck. “We still haven’t caught Ishida.”

“Right,” Zhu Li said with a nod. “We’ll need to figure out where he’s going first,” she frowned, touching her chin anxiously. She looked toward Hira, who had walked over to the window to get a read on Ishida’s movements.

“No need! I already know where he’s headed,” Hira said. “ _And_ I know a shortcut.”

“Yeah, we know where to find his kind,” Jargala said, looking rueful as she opened the door to show her companions out. “Follow me, ladies.”

Zhu Li picked up the lead pipe Ishida had left behind and locked the door on her way out.

***

“All these tunnels used to be _our_ turf,” Hira explained to Zhu Li as they followed Jargala down a dimly-lit passageway beneath the city. “Those were the days, weren’t they, boss?”

Jargala, who was levitating a chunk of jennamite in front of her, gave a slight nod. The crystal glowed softly, illuminating the path ahead. “Yeah, business was great for the Creeping Crystals until Amon and his electric goons came along. They’ve got us outnumbered, so we haven’t been able to take them head-on. But don’t worry—I got a couple of spies down here who keep me in the loop. Besides, _nobody_ knows the underground tunnel network better than us. You’re in good hands, kid,” she said to Zhu Li.

Zhu Li wasn’t sure she’d really consider following a couple of career criminals into a dark tunnel ‘being in good hands,’ especially seeing as just hours ago they’d tried to rob Varrick Global Industries of some of its most valuable assets. But with Varrick’s life at stake, Zhu Li would take whatever help she could get.

“By the way—I really _am_ sorry about your boss,” Hira said quietly to Zhu Li, who shot her a critical look in return. “I just wanted to rip him off, I swear! I didn’t mean for him to get hurt. And I didn’t wanna get you involved, either. That’s why I told him to give you the day off.”

Zhu Li frowned and looked away. “Is that all?”

“Well—that, and I had a feeling you’d probably kick my butt to Ba Sing Se and back if I tried to rob him in front of you,” Hira said. She rubbed her arm sheepishly.

“He trusted you. He _liked_ you. And you deceived him,” Zhu Li said, meeting Hira’s eyes again with a piercing gaze.

“Of _course_ he liked me! I’m adorable and good at Pai Sho,” Hira said, winking. Seeing that Zhu Li’s glare hadn’t subsided, she continued. “But...yeah. Tricking people—it’s kind of what I do. Comes with the job.”

“Maybe you should find another job,” Zhu Li said acerbically, narrowing her eyes.

“Huh, you think so? ‘Cause I always wanted to work in a pet shop,” Hira said, her eyes still tinted with humor.

“Don’t go soft on me now, Hira. I still got plenty for you to do,” Jargala said, turning back to look at her accomplice.

Hira grinned and put her hands up as though she’d been caught. “Hey, just a little joke, boss. You can count on me.”

“Good,” Jargala said. She turned her head back around. “Now shut your traps, we’re coming up on the tram station. If Ishida’s headed for the Equalist hideout, he’s gonna have to go through there first. That’s where we’ll cut him off. But be on your guard, they got patrols down here all day, every day.”

Zhu Li and Hira nodded quietly in unison. After they rounded the next bend, Jargala put a finger gently up to her lips and pointed around a corner—two sentries stood guard at the concealed door to the central hub, where the transports were located.

Hira leaned over and whispered in Zhu Li’s ear. “Hey, can I borrow that a second?” she asked, looking at the lead pipe in Zhu Li’s hands. Zhu Li handed it over, and Hira took it reverently between her empty palms before levitating it into the air with metalbending. Her hands whipped out in front of her, and the pipe sailed clumsily around the corner. Then she let go—in a single, forceful motion aided by gravity, it clonked both sentries upside the head, knocking them out cold.

“Not bad for a gal who couldn’t afford metalbending school, huh?” Hira said, grinning like an owl cat. She called the pipe back into her outstretched hands. “I think I’ll hang onto this thing if you don’t mind.”

***

True to her word, Hira kept clutching the pipe like her life depended on it, even after she and Zhu Li had changed into the guard uniforms that they’d pulled off the two unconscious sentries. Jargala dragged the unmasked guards out of sight.

Just as Jargala had predicted, Ishida arrived at the tram station minutes later. Hira clumsily hid the pipe behind her back. Underneath her mask, Zhu Li breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Varrick, still in a stupor but otherwise unharmed, dangling limply under Ishida’s arm.

“State your business,” Hira said in a faux deep voice as Ishida approached them.

“My _business_?” Ishida scoffed. “Shouldn’t it be obvious? I’ve brought the traitor and the information that the Lieutenant was looking for.” He shoved Varrick forward, gripping him tightly by the collar. “I’m here to deliver it to him.”

Varrick stumbled backwards, his limbs waving about like ribbons in the wind. He looked at Ishida and rubbed his eyes groggily. “Zhu Li, you are _really_ tall today,” he slurred, reaching up to pat Ishida on the head.

Ishida gritted his teeth. “ _As soon as possible_ ,” he added.

Zhu Li turned to look at Hira in mock surprise, silently formulating a plan. Pivoting back to Ishida, she asked “Do you have an appointment?”

Ishida’s expression soured further, his eyes dark and ominous. “I don’t _need_ an appointment. Don’t you know how important this is?!” he said. His voice rose to a shrill scream as he shoved Varrick to the ground and reached for Zhu Li’s neck.

Instinctively, Zhu Li reacted, stepping aside. She swept Ishida’s leg, knocking him off balance. He tripped over Varrick, who was crumpled on the floor like a rag doll.

No longer feeling the need to keep up the act, Hira unveiled the lead pipe from behind her back and took a wild swing at Ishida. It backfired—Ishida reached into his bag and produced a pair of electrified kali sticks, blocking the pipe with them from below. A jolt of electricity shot through the pipe and shocked Hira, who cursed and dropped it. Taking a few unsteady steps backwards, she tried metalbending it off the ground towards Ishida—the pipe took off like a jet, but he dodged it with a simple sidestep.

Ishida taunted his assailant. “What’s the matter, Hira? Still terrible at metalbending?”

“I’ll show _you_ terrible,” Hira said, changing the pipe’s trajectory in mid-air. It made a u-turn, slamming into Ishida’s back. He grunted in pain, but doubled down on his stance before pressing off the ground and rushing towards Hira with the kali sticks, ready to make a direct strike. He let out a battle cry, which must have gotten the attention of the Equalists beyond the door—the hatch opened, and six more masked people leapt out in the corridor, electric gloves and smoke bombs at the ready.

In the confusion, Zhi Li crouched down beside Varrick, who seemed to have lost consciousness again. She checked his vital signs, and was reassured by the fact that he seemed to merely be asleep. In a single swoop, she shouldered the duffel bag Ishida had left behind and scooped her unconscious boss into her arms, leaping out of the way of a smoke bomb that was hurtling towards them.

The bomb went off, and the noise caused Varrick to stir. He blinked twice very slowly, his bleary eyes drifting up towards his masked savior. His lower lip trembled, as though he were about to burst into tears.

“Are you all right?” Zhu Li asked him as she took off at a sprint, trying to put as much distance between them and the unfolding bedlam as she could. He responded by tightening his arms around her neck and nuzzling her mask with his face.

“I _love_ you, Mrs. Beaks,” he said before falling limp and unconscious in her arms again. 

The stagnant air inside Zhu Li’s mask suddenly felt heavy and oppressive. The sound of her pulse thumping in her ears grew louder, and she tried to ignore the heat blooming up through her chest and creeping into her cheeks, leaving her feeling flushed. She swallowed the words that she wanted to say in reply—not here; not now. She had to keep going. Her head snapped up at the sound of another explosion. “Let’s get you out of here,” she said.

Somewhere within the growing cloud of smoke and dust around them, Ishida was issuing a command. “She’s getting away with the plans _and_ the prisoner, you fools! Leave this intruder to me and go after the other one!”

Zhu Li kept on through the haze, but when the debris settled, she found herself completely surrounded by enemies. Her grip on Varrick tightened as she prepared to fight her way out, but just as she dodged the first blow, a crackling sound threw her off guard. She winced for a moment, only to realize that her attackers were the ones in trouble—each one of them had been encased in jennamite.

She looked around to see Jargala drawing closer, a crafty smile playing across her lips. “What? Don’t tell me you forgot I was here,” she said, her voice full of laughter. “Take the chump and get outta here already.”

“What about you?” Zhu Li asked.

“Oh, don’t you worry. I’m about to have some _fun_ with these fellas,” Jargala said, making a fist. “It’s payback time.”

Zhu Li started to back away reluctantly. “Hira’s still fighting with Ishida,” she said.

“Yeah? Well, she’s a big girl. She can take care of herself for a few minutes while I pummel these losers,” said Jargala. “ _Probably,_ ” she added as the ground beneath them began to shake ominously. In the distance, Hira screamed.

“Okay, you got me, I’m a _little_ worried about her,” Jargala said, looking behind them. What appeared to be an enormous mechanical suit of armor was chasing a panicked Hira towards them. The metalbender slid across the quaking floor and tried to conceal herself behind Jargala, who sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Hira, for _crying out loud_ —”

Jargala didn’t get to finish scolding her underling. The mecha tank’s arm pointed itself at her, threatening to launch into the group of intrepid fighters and their trapped foes. A voice—Ishida’s voice—blared from somewhere inside.

“Hand over the plans _and_ the traitor or I shoot,” he said.

Jargala folded her arms, looking around at the immobilized Equalists she’d encased in crystal. “You would blow up the blueprints _and_ your own guys? Pretty stupid move,” she said.

In response, Ishida fired off a warning shot—the electrically charged claw shot out at them, ripping up the floor just feet away from where Zhu Li had been standing. It sent two of the Equalists hurtling through the air. Zhu Li, Jargala and Hira scattered out of its path, taking off in different directions.

Zhu Li found refuge for her and Varrick behind a large storage crate. She gingerly propped him against the wall in his unconscious state, hoping he’d remain safe while she tried to come up with another plan. Burying all traces of panic, she swiftly unzipped the duffel bag she was still carrying to see what she had to work with—a few stray wads of yuans of unknown origin, Ishida’s grappling hook, the blueprints, the detonator prototype, and a slew of broken parts and assorted materials from Varrick’s last few tests. Ishida must have grabbed every scientific-looking thing in the hotel room, not fully understanding what any of them were. Hopefully, Zhu Li could use that to her advantage.

The floor shook again, and Zhu Li steadied herself as best she could. There was another ear-shattering sound from the direction of the mecha tank—the arm cannon must have launched again—and within a few moments, Hira was also scrambling behind the metal crate for safety. Sweat was dripping down her face.

“Shoot, not even the cops could metalbend that thing,” she said. “It’s pure platinum. What’re we supposed to do?!”

Zhu Li handed her the grappling hook without a second’s hesitation. “I’m fixing the detonator. Buy me some time,” she said.

“Sure, you’re the boss,” Hira shrugged, levitating the metal portion of the hook between her hands. She darted back out onto the battlefield, where Jargala was hurling boulders that had been unearthed by the impact of the tank’s arm cannon. “But don’t tell Jargala I said that!” Hira called over her shoulder as she departed.

Zhu Li’s hands worked with furious precision as she assembled a firework that would respond to the remote detonator. Meanwhile, she kept watch on the mecha tank’s movements out of the corner of her eye—Hira had managed to bind the grappling hook’s long rope around its feet, stalling it temporarily. However, as it edged forward, the rope started to snap. Jargala launched a double-pronged earthbending attack, propelling one boulder at the tank’s feet in an attempt to trip it up and another at the cockpit where Ishida was piloting from. The masses of stone made sizable dents in the tank’s armor as they slammed into it, but as a result of the impact, the boulders shattered to pieces. Gravel rained down upon the floor like hailstones.

In the cockpit, Ishida laughed hysterically. “What’s the matter, girls? Out of ammo? I guess bending _doesn’t_ solve everything, does it?”

Jargala and Hira held their ground, teeth bared. As Ishida taunted them, Zhu Li crept up behind the tank unnoticed, lobbing the firework as far into the exhaust pipe as she could. Once she had maneuvered herself back around to the side and hoisted Varrick and the duffel bag onto her back, Jargala and Hira looked at one another and nodded. Hira reached out towards the large metal supply crate—with trembling arms and an enormous amount of effort, she sent the metal crate slamming against the mecha tank, creating a barrier between them. The two Triad members and the executive assistant continued towards the exit at top speed.

“You think you can run away?” Ishida said, grunting as he worked the levers to shove aside the crate.

Jargala looked meaningfully at Zhu Li as they forged ahead. “That thing better pack a punch, or we might actually be in trouble,” she said, pointing at the detonator.

“Ooh, can I press the button?” Hira asked with a lopsided grin, still running for her life. Jargala smacked the back of her associate’s head with her open palm.

Zhu Li looked over her shoulder to make sure she’d put enough distance between her party and Ishida, then slammed her fist into the detonator. The fuse activated and the gunpowder in the firework ignited, setting off a chain reaction within the mecha tank. An explosion rocked the tunnel behind them. They ran without looking back, not stopping until they were greeted by sunlight, trees, and the glistening waters of Yue Bay.

***

“...and three for me, and two for you, and a couple more for me…”

Safe from their adventure at last, the intrepid trio consisting of two earthbenders and one executive assistant stopped to rest on a secluded dock. Jargala was splitting up the yuans they’d found in Ishida’s duffel bag between herself and Hira, who was dangling her feet into the water nearby.

“Last chance—you _sure_ you don’t want a cut of this? ” Hira said. She turned to look at Zhu Li, who was harboring Varrick’s head in her lap and dabbing at his brow with a damp cloth. He was stirring occasionally, but still not coherent.

“No thank you,” Zhu Li said without looking up. She had the blueprints back and Varrick was safe—that was all the reward she needed.

“Since when are _you_ so generous?” Jargala looked at Hira, exasperated. “We’re a _triad_ , Hira, not a charity.”

“It’s not like we’re giving her nothing for nothing, chief. It’s basically a payment, right?” Hira said, turning pleadingly towards her boss. “She could join up with the Creeping Crystals! We’ll blow up Amon and those jerks with her gadgets and get filthy stinking rich!”

Jargala rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like it’d be that easy,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm—but after a moment, she took a thoughtful pause. “It’s true though, we really _do_ need people like you,” she said to Zhu Li. “I don’t typically extend this invitation to non-benders, but in your case, I’m willing to make an exception. We’ll probably make nine or ten times this much on our next job. What do you say?”

“I appreciate the offer,” Zhu Li said in the interest of being polite, “But I’m…not ready to make a career change. Besides…” she leaned down slightly over Varrick, brushing some stray hair out of his eyes with her fingertips. “I think he probably needs me more than you do.”

Hira looked from Varrick to Zhu Li as though she were having some sort of earth-shattering realization.

Jargala smirked. “Yeah, I had a feeling you’d say that,” she said.

“Aw, _that’s_ lame,” Hira said, crinkling her nose. “I mean, _look_ , Zhu Li, I know he’s good-looking and insanely rich and all that, but you could probably do better—come _on_.”

Jargala punched Hira’s arm. “Don’t act like you know what you’re talking about, Hira. I’ve seen you fall for bigger chumps than him.”

Hira pouted and whined. Jargala pocketed her share of the cash and stood up, helping Hira to her feet as well. “C’mon, let’s leave these two alone,” Jargala said. As she walked away, she turned to glance over her shoulder at Zhu Li. “Must be nice to feel some sorta way about somebody. But if you ever get tired of this guy, you know where to find us.”

“Yeah, good luck, I guess,” Hira said, her eyes flicking between Jargala and Zhu Li, then down to Varrick as he rolled over in his sleep. “When he wakes up, tell him I said thanks for the turtle duck boat ride. It was part of the plan and all that, but I still had fun.”

Zhu Li nodded and bid the Creeping Crystals goodbye, happy to be alone with her thoughts again.

***

Varrick’s first words when he awoke laying sideways in Zhu Li’s lap were “Ugh, my _head_. Feels like I got run over by a herd of elephant rhinos.” His fingers found their way to his face, and he hissed and massaged his eyes with the heels of his hands for a few seconds before letting his arms loll back down to his sides. “I had the _weirdest_ dream, Zhu Li. I was a mile underground being attacked by a metal giant with detachable arms, and my ostrich horse was there, and…” he trailed off, mumbling to himself.

“You _were_ being attacked, sir. You’re safe now,” Zhu Li said.

He suddenly seized up and bolted upright in a panic. “ _What?!_ Where am I? What day is it? Am I still on a date with Hira?” he asked.

“No, sir. She drugged you and tried to rob you. Though she _did_ say thank you for the turtle duck boat ride,” said Zhu Li.

Varrick deflated, his shoulders slumping forward as he dropped his head into his hands. “Ugh, if I had a yuan for every time _that_ happened to me, I’d...well, I’d still be rich.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “So was that her? In the metal giant thing?”

“No, that was her associate—he turned out to be an Equalist,” Zhu Li said.

“ _Those_ guys again? What’s their beef with me, anyway?!” Varrick said. He whipped his head around towards Zhu Li, a sour expression on his face.

“They’re still angry over the betrayal,” Zhu Li said matter-of-factly. “There’s a reward out for whoever captures you.”

Varrick knitted his brows and scrunched up his eyes. “ _Sheesh,_ talk about holding a grudge. They’re doing fine without me—haven’t they ever heard the phrase _forgive and forget_?” he said, spreading his hands out and scowling.

Something stopped him from fully gesturing—he winced and sucked in through his teeth, looking at his left arm. Rolling up his sleeve, he found that he’d sustained a small abrasion in the scuffle. Trying his best not to look at it, he asked “Hand me the thing?”

Zhu Li offered him the first aid kit she always carried around. He plucked out a bandage and started clumsily wrapping it around his scraped arm. “Well, no sense in hanging around Republic City when there are still a bunch of loonies out here trying to kidnap me. We can throw all our stuff back on the yacht and check out of the hotel tonight,” he said.

“I think that would be wise, sir,” Zhu Li said. 

They lapsed into a momentary silence as Varrick struggled to tie the bandage off, growing increasingly flustered as his one-handed attempts failed. Knowing this could go on forever if she let it, Zhu Li mercifully swooped in. “Here, let me,” she said, tying a simple but sturdy knot.

Varrick grunted a bashful _thanks_ towards the bay and chewed the side of his mouth thoughtfully before he spoke again. “And _another_ thing, Zhu Li—cancel all my dates for the next month—no, make that the next _year_. Actually, just cancel them all— _for eternity._ I am _done_. If anyone asks, I am officially off the market.”

He turned away from the water— Zhu Li could feel his eyes on her. She looked back up at him with cautious anticipation, not sure whether to take the outburst seriously. For all she knew, he’d change his mind by morning. “Are you...sure about that, sir?”

“ _Yes,_ I’m sure!” Varrick said, looking aghast. “This is the way it _always_ goes, Zhu Li. You _think_ you like a girl, but then all of a sudden they go crazy and decide they wanna kidnap you or capsize your boat or drug you and throw you at the mercy of some walking metal _death_ machine, or—or cry and complain about how you’re _ignoring_ them.”

Varrick puckered his mouth and forcefully blew some hair out of his eyes. “Oh, take a note for me while you’re at it—research how to build a walking metal death machine,” he said.

“Right away, sir,” Zhu Li said with a nod, producing her notepad from her pocket. It had gotten a bit bent out of shape during the fight, but it was still usable. She scribbled the note using a broken pencil.

The familiar routine was comforting to them both. Still, something unspoken hung in the air between them—Varrick’s gaze flickered from the dirt on her clothes to the smudges on her face, and finally settled awkwardly on her lopsided ponytail.

“Y’know...it’s too bad—it would be a _lot_ easier if there were more girls out there like you,” he said, tapping the fingers of his uninjured hand against the side of his head. He looked thoughtful for a change.

Carefully, deliberately, Zhu Li slid the splintered remains of her pencil back through the metal spiral of her notepad and lifted her head to return his gaze. Something clenched in her chest. “In what way, sir?” she asked. 

“Why can’t they all be more _efficient_?” Varrick asked, punching his palm for emphasis. “And _cold_ , and _unfeeling_ , and—”

Zhu Li tried not to let the overpowering sensation of defeat shut her down—a voice from earlier echoed in the back of her mind.

_‘You should try telling him about your feelings!’_

Zhu Li steeled her resolve and spoke up. “Sir—” she said in an attempt to cut him off. He kept going.

“...and punctual, and not afraid of the stuff between my toes—”

“Sir?” Zhu Li tried again.

“...and good at blowing things up, but only when I _tell_ them to blow things up—”

“ _Varrick!”_ Zhu Li finally shouted, stunning them both into silence. Each of them seemed to realize, with a sudden jolt, that it was the first time she’d called him by any part of his name.

“Well?! _What?!_ Spit it out already, Zhu Li,” Varrick urged. His swallowed so hard, his whole throat seemed to convulse.

Zhu Li drew in a ragged breath, considering her words carefully. She looked him straight in the eye—his pupils dilated.

“I...actually _do_ have feelings,” she said simply.

Varrick drew back for a moment, flabbergasted. He tried to form words. “ _Tch_ —of _course_ you—I mean _I_ knew—it’s just a—a little hyperbole never _killed_ anybody, Zhu Li,” he shoved his hands into his pockets defensively.

Zhu Li looked out at the water and fiddled with the battered edges of her notebook. Then, something stirred in the corner of her eye. A puff of air glanced across her cheek. She turned to her right to see Varrick’s face hovering an inch from her own, his brow furrowed. He was leaning forward on his hands, scrutinizing her.

“Are you having any right _now_?” he asked her, screwing up his face the same way he did when he was trying to solve a formula.

Zhu Li stayed focused, afraid to make any sudden movements. “...Several, sir,” she answered, leaving it at that. He held his position for several seconds longer.

“...Well, I’ll take your word for it,” he finally said, retracting his face from her personal space. He clapped his hand on her back—it made her glasses go crooked, and she straightened them to look at him again. “Probably best to keep that poker face on, Zhu Li—show no sign of weakness! From now on, it’s you and me against the world!” he said, pointing into the sunset.

Zhu Li wasn’t sure if they’d just taken two steps forward or two steps back, but _something_ had just happened between them—of that much she was certain. Varrick clambered to his feet, and Zhu Li followed suit, grabbing the duffel bag on her way up. They walked side-by-side towards Main Street, chatting as they went. 

Varrick—who, as always, seemed to love the sound of his own voice—prattled on, a slight spring in his step. “So! Time to skip town. I’ll be honest, I have _no_ idea where to go from here. Actually, y’know—I met this Swami from the South Pole at the Hail Ball? Says he’ll teach me to levitate! Can you imagine, Zhu Li? _Me,_ levitating? My investors’ll love it!”

“I’ll believe that when I see it, sir,” Zhu Li said. Her stern expression never wavered, but she could almost feel a smile creeping into her eyes.

“Ha! That settles it then, we are _definitely_ going to the South Pole _._ I’ll make a believer of you yet, Zhu Li.”

Zhu Li and Varrick’s conversation faded into the hustle and bustle of the city as the sun dipped below the skyline. As they weaved back along the crowded sidewalks for one last stroll, Republic City hummed to life all around them, matching their rising excitement as they prepared to sail off towards an unknown future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This concludes "A Varri-Cycle Built for Two," but Varrick and Zhu Li's story is really just beginning. :) If you'd like to see some more sketches, thoughts, and historical factoids tied to this fic, I started doing some extended chapter notes on my Tumblr, sugar-stories!
> 
> **Name Notes Again!**
> 
> **Hira** / हिरा - a Hindi name meaning "Diamond." Ties into her affiliation with the Creeping Crystals. Since Jargala was coded as South Asian in the comics, I thought I'd keep the theme going!  
>  **Penyu** \- the Malay word for 'turtle,' which references his role in the circus as half of the Dancing Lion Turtle.  
>  **Ishida** / 石田 - in the comics, Jargala's rival was named Tokuga, presumably after the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan during its last feudal period (the emperors were mostly just figureheads during that time). On October 21, 1600, Ieyasu Tokugawa, who would later become the first Tokugawa shogun, led his Western Army against the forces of the Eastern Army, led by Mitsunari Ishida in the battle of Sekigahara, which decided the fate of Japan for the next 267 years (until the 15-year-old Meji emperor decided he was gonna be in charge in 1867). ANYway, history stuff aside, Ishida also contains the character for "rock," a nod to his Earth Kingdom heritage.
> 
> A Fire Emblem Credits-esque **"Where Are They Now" Montage** for all Varrick's ex-girlfriends, because why not?
> 
>  **Tao Zi Tseng** returned to her hometown in the Earth Kingdom following her struggle with the Equalists to do some self-reflection and nurture her creative spirit. She eventually resumed sculpting the likeness of Avatar Kyoshi, but historians have noted that some of her later works took on a striking resemblance to President Zhu Li Moon.
> 
>  **Yufan Ling** , feeling discouraged after her failed courtship with Varrick, threw herself into the study of cooking. When she finally perfected the recipe for leek soup, she opened a restaurant with the help of her faithful butler, and the two spent many happy years together.
> 
> Although **Lady Xing** lost all her political power when Queen Hou-Ting was dethroned, she continued her work as a civic leader in an unofficial capacity. When the Earth Kingdom established a democracy, she became the governor of Ba Sing Se. It is said that her shrewd demeanor and her eye for detail served her well.  
>  **Uki** continued her relentless pursuit of Varrick, following him across the continent for several years. When revenge became too expensive an endeavor, her father cut her off financially. To compensate, she opened a moderately successful fortune-telling stand in Republic City, where it is said she remained with her pet tiger seal Kojiro for the rest of her days.
> 
>  **Hira** finally realized her dream of working at a pet shop--as a front for a money laundering scheme run by the Creeping Crystals. Although she never improved much at metalbending, she did acquire a shiny new lead pipe, which she proudly wielded against would-be intruders and rival triad members.
> 
> **Finally, another big shoutout to my betas jaganlekhani and givebacknlivehappy**! I was so fortunate to have their feedback and insight through the entire process, and I wish them all the best in their writing endeavors and in life. :)


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